Cabbage worms, which include the imported cabbage worm and the cabbage looper, can be very destructive to your cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower and other cabbage-type plants.

Both caterpillars are green in color and reach a mature size of 1-1½ inches in length. The adult cabbage worm is an attractive white butterfly, which is commonly seen in the garden. The adult cabbage looper is a brown moth which is only active at night.

Both of these caterpillars are present on plants at the same time of the year and control measures are identical. I've always had good luck using Garden Gard to control the cabbage worms, but Sevin, Malathion and Diazinon are all effective. The bacterial insecticide, Bacillus thuringensis, sold under the trade name Dipel, Thuricide, or Biotrol will also give good control.

This page was last updated April 2003

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